AlanBarber.Org
Politics & Government
Sunday, August 01, 2004
John Kerry Protest
Well the John Kerry Protest / Pro Bush Rally went very well. We riled up a bunch of liberals and made sure it was aware that not everyone in BG welcomed Kerry.
Other than a few minor alterations, that the other side always started, things were heated but never got out of hand. It really is amazing that for all the claims of peace and love you hear from that side they’re always the first to want to get physical with you.
We may get loud obnoxious and try our hardest to irritate the crap out of libs but we always show respect to them. We make sure not to invade the personal space or make physical contact with anyone. That’s because words are always more powerful.
The other side however seems to have no qualms about doing whatever they want. They’ll not only get right up in your face and yell trying to make you back down, many seem to think nothing of grabbing signs, pushing someone, pulling on other peoples shirts, etc.
Anyways here’s a bit of the play by play of what happen. We all met up around 1:30pm at the Taco Bell. The employees on their smoking break were real asses and kept bitching at us to move our cars. We told them we would after we had all eaten.
We headed down the street about 2 blocks to the corner where many other Bush people were set up. We got both plenty of support and hate from the crowds walking to the event. The best part was when 4 fire trucks passed by and ran their sirens in support of us. The worst part was when a lady with her baby, who couldn’t have been more than a year old if that, actually made her baby flip us off. I’m not joking here folks! She took the hand of the child and held its middle finger up to flip us off! Really mature and classy there ma’am!
We were there maybe an hour when we shifted down to another area hoping it would be closer to the actual event. Along the way we had our first real altercation. The group was all marching down the street when some guy grabbed my shirt and tried to pull me aside. I don’t know if he wanted to debate or just hopped I might respond in violence. Either way I got right up in his face and told him to take his F’ing hand off me. Another protestor stepped in and yelled at him to back off too. The little screaming match lasted for about a minute before the guy backed down. We finally got to the new location but it really wasn’t any better. Boy was that area fun with plenty of people coming up to debate us. There were a few bad apples but overall they were very civil and wanted a good, intelligent debate. I highly applaud them and truly respect these folks.
We hung around there for maybe an hour. It’s hard to remember in that heat. I was getting baked alive by the sun. We headed back to the original location. No problems on the way other than the usual people flipping us off and calling us Nazis, etc. Real original there guys! We chilled back at the first location for 20-30 minutes until we decided it was time to taking it all the way. We were going to the “front lines” or better know as the entrance to the event. The streets were already packed down there so it would be pretty dangerous. This is where things can get ugly since you will be surrounded on 3 maybe 4 sides at all times. However, that’s always were you have the most fun.
By then it was 3:30 already a half hour past when Kerry was suppose to start speaking but hadn’t even arrived. We marched out way down as far as we could and were right in the thick of things. We did chants like “4 more years”, “Bush, Cheney”, “Kerry is scarry”, “Give me a B, U, S, H… What’s the spell…”, “We support the troops”, etc, etc. The other side returned with “Kerry, Kerry, Kerry”. There were little debates all over and plenty of heckling from the crowd. The usual assortment of party lines like “Bush lied”, “If you support the troops why don’t you join the army”, Comparisons of Bush to Hitler, etc.
The worst of all and the only thing that truly makes me upset to hear came from one old white guy that had to be like 90 years old and had a oxygen tube in his nose. One of the protestors and a friend of mine is African-American and this old guy walked right up to her and stated rather nastily that she should go back to the cotton fields where she belongs!
I have tough skin and can stand to get face to face with even the most horrid individuals without it bothering me but that statement was such a pure form of hate that it even made me upset. We Republicans get called racists and bigots all the time but the truth of the matter is racism and bigotry isn’t associated with any one party. That old man proves it more than anything. Here was a man with pro-Kerry pins that made one of the most racist comments I’ve ever heard.
Anyways, around 4:30 Kerry finally showed up to speak. We keep making a ruckus for another 10-15 minutes before the leaders told us to pack up and leave. You don’t want to be standing there at the entrance/exit when the speech is over and everyone is trying to leave. That’s just asking for trouble!
So we headed home and all felt great knowing we managed to harass the heck out people and get our message out.
I have all the pictures I took of the event uploaded and ready for viewing right here:
http://www.alanbarber.org/gallery/kerry_protest/index.php
I didn’t get many good pictures but hey it’s better than none. I was too busy holding signs and cheering so I was always too slow to pull out my camera and get picture of the good stuff.
Saturday, July 31, 2004
John Kerry is coming to town
So it appears that John Kerry is coming to my town. Ugg. If that’s not bad enough they’re closing all of downtown down for him. Instead of just going to one of our fine parks or some other location to talk they’re setting up the stupid event in the middle of the street! That’s right! The middle of the street in downtown which is also a state highway! There is heavy traffic on that road 24/7/365.
It’s not even just a single block where he’ll be speaking. It’s about 5 blocks long and a block on either side of the main street. That’s just about the entire city when you get down to it. I don’t care who you are, you don’t shutdown a city like this. Of course this is nothing new really. This town loves to shut down this area for all sorts of events from car shows to art festivals.
Anyhoo, I’ll be getting together with some of my former College Republicans and protesting. We’ll make some silly signs tonight and meet up tomorrow afternoon. The only thing I really wish for would be rain. It’s not suppose to but it would be so great if a major storm rolled through right as the event was suppose to start.
Monday, June 14, 2004
HR 4392 - Technology Retraining And Investment Now Act of 2004
Saw a link to a report of a new bill being put in congress to give tax credit for technology training a while ago. I don’t remember where I saw it but anyways here’s the report at CramSession.
It’s bill HR 4392, called the Technology Retraining And Investment Now Act of 2004 or TRAIN Act of 2004.
The short of the bill is that, if it’s passed, will give tax credits for people that get training in communication and information technology. It appears you can get credit of 50 percent of expenses of up to $8000 per year or $10,000 for special cases. So you could be getting a tax break of up to $4000 or $5000 dollars!
I hope this does pass and get enacted. We are living in a society where people need to be trained to use technology. Many can’t afford the training so any tax credit that could help people out is great.
The bill states credit for “course work” but the one thing I wonder is if the tax credit is viable for Computer Science and MIS students’ tuition at public 4 year universities? If it is then I just found one more good reason why I should go back and get my masters. Nothing like having the government pay for half my tuition costs!
So take a moment and read the bill if you’re interested in it. Then go contact your congressmen and tell them to vote for it.
on 06/14/2004 at 07:53 PM
Computers & Technology • Politics & Government • (1) Comments • Permalink
Monday, April 26, 2004
Saw Angela 'Bay' Buchanan speak
Ok short post today since it's late and I'm tired. The CRs (College Republicans) had Angela Buchanan come speak tonight at the campus. She spoke about why feminism is bad and also about the problems associated with abortion. The speech was excellent but the turnout was a bit low.Anyhoo, I'll look at the pictures and post them tomarrow along with a more detailed post about Bay Buchanan and the speech. I guess I can add another person to the list of famous people I've had the honor of meeting and getting a picture with.
That'd be David Horowitz, Fred Barnes and now Angela Buchanan. Not exactly super big name stars but still, they're famous and I've meet them!
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
OCRF 2004 Recap
Been a bit busy lately. I thought my computer graphics project was due Thursday but it turns out it was due today. So I spent yesterday working on that. I did get it done and turned in so everything is ok.The OCRF (Ohio College Republican Federation) Convention was a lot of fun over the weekend. Well the actual convention was a bit of a bust but everyone pretty much expected that.
The morning events were all canceled. The first speaker, State Representative Kevin Dewine, never showed up at the event to speak. No one knows what happen because they booked him and had even called the day before to verify he would be coming. The other speaker Eric Hoplin, College Republican National Chairman, had some plane problems and was running late. Representative Dewine never showed up but Mr Hoplin did get there late and they let him speak at the Dinner.
So anyways, we went to lunch. It was a catered deal with fancy pizzas and vegetable platters. It was ok food but nothing spectacular. My girlfriend and I decided to just go back to the hotel and hang out until the keynote speaker Fred Barnes later that day. It was the usual stuff like; grassroots forum, student activism, liberal bias on campus, etc. These are all talks and events we saw at CPAC in Washington D.C. and talk about at our meetings every week. It's all stuff heard before so we didn't feel like sitting around for 4 hours.
At four pm we headed over to the place where they were holding the keynote speaker Fred Barnes. We got seats in the second row right in front of the podium. We were like ten feet from where he would be standing. It's always great to get nice close seats that way you never have to worry about your view being blocked by some tall person or having trouble hearing the speaker because of sound system problems.
Mr. Barnes finally came in and gave his talk. It was good but nothing inspiring or memorable. He talked about a few different topics including the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terror. He had spent some time over in Iraq so he shared a few quick stories and voiced his views on how things were going. He spoke a bit about the November elections. How the media spends too much time and energy focusing on how every move and action that The President or those running for president make will affect the election. Finally, he spoke about a new study some professor at Harvard was working on. The professor had come up with 6 metrics to better measure how good a president is. He covered each of the 6 areas and compared how well Bush, Kerry, Dean, etc would rank. The result was that Bush comes out ahead and actually shows as being a very good President.
Afterwards, Mr. Barnes did a short Q and A session. Nothing to really talk about there but he did make a few funny comments about the news industry and managed to poke a jab or two at the Democrats.
They held a dinner afterwards and I managed to get my picture taken with Mr. Barnes. He's a very nice friendly guy and stayed around at the dinner and chatted with many people. Again the dinner was catered and pretty boring. They had made a big deal about the dinner being a black tie event but that no one was expected to actually wear a tux or fancy dress. I came in expecting a fancy sit down dinner and such. Nothing fancy mind you, just like rubber chicken. However, it was just a get in line, serve yourself, pasta dinner. There were a few different types of pasta and sauces, salad and strawberries and some type of cream pastries for dessert.
After eating Eric Hoplin spoke a bit about things we need to do for November, then State Congressman Tom Brinkman spoke about how we the new generation of Republicans have an important job to maintain the country and keep our core beliefs, etc, etc. The new officers were sworn in for the OCRF and they gave out awards for best club, etc. Then that was it. We all headed back to the hotel to get out of our fancy clothes and have some real fun.
Some of the people left for home because they wanted to get back that night. Others went out to a local bar where there was a party. My girlfriend and I just stayed at the hotel as usual. We put on our PJs and crawled into bed to watch TV and cuddle. I don't care if you call us boring. We're both college students that have busy lives and live at home with our parents. You can see with those facts it's basically impossible for us to ever have any time alone. So this weekend was a great opportunity for us to take advantage of. All right! You can all get your heads out of the gutter right now!
Anyhoo, so that's the weekend summary. Below are two pictures of Fred Barnes but you can find all the pictures that I took (well the ones that turned out good) in the Images & File Gallery. Just check out the OCRF 2004 section.
 |  |
Friday, January 09, 2004
Mission to the Moon? - Part 2
As I commented on back on December 5th it appears that President Bush plans to pull a JFK like move at the state of the union.I figured at the time it was just a possibility. Writing State of the Unions take months and they usually try to have some big exciting part for each one. So they'll think up stuff and start making inquiries into the possibilities. So something big like starting up a major space mission would obviously get leaked to the press.
However, I really didn't think it would end up being a reality, until today that is. I just happen to be flipping through the stations when I saw a story on Fox News then later on MSNBC. They talked about how he might make an announcement at the State of the Union and possible actions. They're talking about raising NASA's budget drastically and maybe even including passing a provision to increase the budget ever year.
Anyways, as I said before I really don't think it's a good idea. While on one side as a tech geek and a person fascinated with space and astronomy I get all excited about the prospects. The moon landings were an amazing event and I would give anything to have been there to witness it firsthand. The prospects of a new "space race" starting and me being here to witness it is wonderful.
However, I'm just afraid this will backfire on the President. With everything going on it's just not a good idea. I think the guy needs to play it safe and focus on terra firma. Get things cleaned up in Afghanistan and Iraq, work productively with Libya who seems to want to play nice, see what you can do with Iran, and do some good here back in the good old US of A. Not just security and safety, I'm talking about things like healthcare and the economy. That's where the focus needs to be right now.
It'll do more good for the average man and for the election year than anything a mission to the moon or mars could do!
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
CPAC 2004 Draft Schedule
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) website has finally released a draft schedule of the conference. These guys are always so slow in building the schedule. Space is limited and you end up registering in September for the conference which is in January but they have no schedules up so you really have to go on faith they’ll get good speakers.
Anyways it’s just a draft schedule but these are the things I’m hoping to go see the 22nd thru 24th.
----------------------------------------
- Thursday 22nd -
2pm Vice President Dick Cheney
3:30pm Rebuilding Iraq: Where Do We Go From Here?
Col. Gary W. Anderson, CNN
lt. Col. Bob Maginnis, Fox News
Lt. Col. Scott E. Rutter
Moderator: Bill Gertz, Washington Times
4:45pm Globalization’s Dark Side: The Dangers of the United Nations
Tom DeWeese, American Policy Center
Jeff Gayner, Americans for Sovereignty
Tom Kilgannon, Freedom Alliance
Moderator: TBA
- Friday 23rd -
8:45am Ken Mehlman - Campaign Manager, Bush-Cheney 2004
10:25am Wayne LaPierre
2:30pm Election Trends: What to Expect in 2004
Ed Gillespie, Republican National Committee
2:50pm Previewing the 2004 Elections
John Gizzi, Human Events
Jeff Bell, Capital City Partners
Kellyanne Conway, The Polling Company
Moderator: Marc Rotterman, Rotterman & Associates
4:15pm Ann Coulter, syndicated columnist and author
5:45pm Majority Leader Tom DeLay
- Saturday 24th -
1:50pm College Students Sound Off: How the Left Influence Education
Moderator: Eric Hoplin, College Republican National Committee
2:05pm Campus Commies: Higher Education, Citizenship, and the Political Process
Dr. Gary Scott, Intercollegiate Studies Institute
3:45pm Lt. Col. Oliver North
----------------------------------------
Most of the topics covered will be great to watch but I still need to manage to find some free time to hit the sites in Washington D.C. Last year I hit most the usual stuff visitors go see like the monuments, memorials and museums. So this year I have 3 things I really much get time to visit
1) The US Holocaust Memorial Museum
I’ve heard the holocaust museum is very powerful and worth the visit. I actually read a series of stories about the holocaust in my English class so I’d like to learn a bit more.
2) Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall
Like I already said I hit up most of the memorials and monuments but I forgot to go visit the Vietnam wall.
3) Arlington National Cemetery
I ran out of time visiting sites last year and the weather was crappy so I decided to skip the cemetery but afterwards many of my friends talked about it so I have to make sure I make time for it this time.
This will be my 2nd and last trip to CPAC since I’ll be graduating this year. Being part of a student group means I save a ton. Registration is $10 for students, our plane ticket is only $114 and the hotel cost is only $51. So for a total of 175 dollars I get to go to CPAC. A normal individual would have to play $90 to register, $200+ for a plane ticket and $400-$500 for hotel costs. While I wouldn’t mind going by myself I just can’t afford that kind of costs.